Courtroom transcripts usually make for pretty dry reading. A murder trial’s graphic details can seem matter of fact. But every so often the testimony turns into a Perry Mason-style dramatic script.

That’s how an exchange between Quincy District Court Judge Mark Coven and now-deceased Braintree Police Chief John Polio reads, in the newly-released, complete transcript of the 2010 inquest for Seth Bishop’s fatal shooting.

Amy Bishop shot her teenage brother with a pump-action shotgun in their family’s Braintree home in 1986. She was taken to the town police station, but was released without being charged soon after her mother Judy Bishop arrived. A state medical examiner ruled Seth’s death accidental. For most in the town, the tragedy became a hazy memory.

The actions of Polio, other Braintree officers and State Police investigators were thrust back into the spotlight in February 2010 when Amy Bishop fatally shot three colleagues and wounded three others during a biology department meeting at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

Then-Norfolk County District Attorney William Keating ordered an inquest, and set the stage for Coven and Polio’s verbal duel.

Polio was 86 and long retired in April 2010 when he took the witness stand as one of two dozen witnesses Coven subpoenaed. In the unredacted transcript, Polio had already told a prosecutor that he played no role in Bishop’s release that day in 1986. As Coven further questioned the chief from the bench, the judge’s rising skepticism is evident.

“So you’re asking this Court to believe that as Chief of Police, that you never asked one question ... about what happened to an unexplained shooting in your town?” Coven said.

“Not that I recall,” Polio responded.

Coven asked the chief about “credible evidence” that Braintree police hadn’t acted on numerous State Police requests for reports and photos for the shooting.

“That’s a lie,” Polio shot back.

“How do you know it’s a lie?” Coven asked. “You said it’s a lie. How do you know it’s a lie?”

Coven and Polio parried over details about the Braintree police investigation, and why State Police were told not to come to the scene.

“And if I were to tell you that there’s credible evidence of more than one witness that both Captain (Peter) D’Amico and Captain (Theodore) Buker independently said that the orders came from the Chief not to book Amy Bishop, how would you respond to that?” Coven asked.

“I’d say that’s untrue,” Polio said.

“And if I were to tell you that there’s evidence from more than one witness that said that Chief Polio instructed them to release Amy Bishop to her mother?”

Page 2 of 2 - “Untrue.”

“Okay. All right. Thank you, Chief.” You can almost hear Coven sighing.

Polio left the witness stand, never to return. Two months later, a grand jury indicted Amy Bishop for her brother’s murder. Polio didn’t live to see her plead guilty to the Alabama killings. He died in December 2010 at 87, sticking to his story to the end.

Patriot Ledger reporter Lane Lambert has covered numerous local court cases as well as the Amy Bishop murder case. He is originally from Alabama.